What It Once Was
by bellesxfleurs08
Summary: Early in the life of SVU as we know it, a case comes along that reveals secrets and changes lives. An eventual EO with more focus on Olivia and Cragen at first, but not in a romantic way!
1. Chapter 1

My first SVU story…I don't own any part of Law and Order: SVU…

Just something I started thinking about at work and decided to write down.

Elliot's around 27. So this is early years SVU.

Might be a little confusing at first, but should clear up later

The 1-6

For Captain Donald Cragen, life had been full of sorrow; however he was a master at concealing this. Focusing on his job and his detectives, there was not much time to dwell on what had happened in the past.

Out at their desks sat the only "family" Cragen had left after the death of his wife. The detectives Munch, Tutuola, and Stabler were enjoying a slow day in which the only thing accomplished were a few old case files that had previously been abandoned. Of course, a day could not possibly exist without a new case to work on.

"We've got a rape case to deal with. A young woman, the perp is nowhere to be found. Tutuola, Munch get to the crime scene." Cragen handed Fin a paper with the address of a house on it. "Stabler, you and I are going to Mercy General to talk to the doctor's and hopefully the victim. Let's move."

And with this the SVU was back into action, trying to help a young woman who had the misfortune of getting raped.

On the way to the hospital

"You know Elliot; you have really got to stop scaring off the partners you get. I don't want to have to go along with you every time you need someone." The captain told the detective sitting next to him, thinking of the young woman who had left just two days prior.

"I can't help it that you're only giving me children to work with. You know that none of them were cut out for Special Victims." Said Elliot, petulantly.

"You and I were there once, Elliot. Just remember that." And with Cragen's words came a reflectful silence until arrival at the hospital.

As if on cue, Cragen's cell phone rang right before the pair made it into the hospital, so he told Elliot to go inside and speak to the doctor in charge before answering the phone to talk to Fin.

"What did you find?" Cragen began.

"Not much, Cap. The crime scene isn't giving up much to work with." Was the reply.

"Ok, get what you can, and then head back to the station."

"Gotcha, bye."

Cragen shut his phone and headed inside to find Elliot standing outside of the victim's room, waiting on him.

"We've got a Jane Doe, early twenties, conscious, but she isn't talking. Huang is with her right now. This isn't an ordinary case." The detective explained.

"There's no 'ordinary' rape case."

"Well, I know, but we don't deal with this every day. The doctors say the scars show she's been held captive for at least a couple of years, but probably more. Physically, she's been raped, abused, and starved repeatedly, and a number has been done on her mentally as well. Recovery time is going to take awhile."

"And we know nothing else about her? How are we to find any family?"

"Let's hope Huang has got her to start talking. She's going to need someone."

"Well, I guess we'd better go do our jobs."

The two men walked into the room to find Huang gently talking to an obviously traumatized female. Elliot observed her. The woman had long brunette hair and was extremely pale, as if she hadn't seen sunlight in years. She was also extremely skinny, but she was beautiful despite it all. He made a move to introduce himself, but then noticed the room had gone extremely quiet and the woman and Cragen were staring at each other, mesmerized.

"Olivia?" Cragen dared to ask.

"Daddy." She managed to choke out before breaking into sobs.

A/N Chapter 1 complete.

This will be the first and last time I mention anything about reviews unless it's to thank someone. Yes, it's nice to have suggestions, but I am in no way going to implore that you do so. It is completely annoying when authors do that, so I won't do it to you.

Thank you for reading 


	2. Chapter 2

WOW, You guys are great.

This week will be pretty busy, but I'll try to update when I can

I know the dates and times given won't really fit with the timeline as given on the show, I'm sorry for this, but it had to change to go with the story.

By the way, Elliot is single. No Kathy, no kids. It will end up being EO but it will take a long time to work into that.

Chapter 2

Mercy General

Whoever said that grown men don't cry was telling a lie. Cragen had no cares as to the tears streaming down his face; a track star could not have gotten to his daughter faster than he did at that moment. Emotions were running high in the room as Captain Donald Cragen held Olivia to him as tight as he could without causing more pain to her already too-damaged body, trying to comfort her. Tears mixed with tears and the world seemed to stop for a father and daughter who had been apart way too long.

"I love you, Princess," Cragen said as he pulled away just enough to look into the young woman's troubled eyes.

"I wanted you and Mom so badly. I was so scared. He…He…Daddy. He…" Olivia stumbled, not being able to put into words the torment that she had been under.

"It's okay, Olivia. I know. It's okay. I'm never going to let you go again. I swear." Don vowed, meaning every word that he said.

Almost being cruel, the long awaited reunion was interrupted with the doctor's knock on the door.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said, not noticing what was going on. "But we need to run some tests on Ms. uh," he paused, not knowing the name of his previously unidentified patient.

"Cragen." Was the answer he received from the elder gentleman next to the girl in question. "Olivia Christine Cragen."

"Well it's good to know that our girl has a name. I'm going to assume that you're her father?" The doctor received a definite nod. "The tests shouldn't take too long; while we are running them we'll need for you to fill out some informational papers. Go to the center desk and you will be able to get them."

Cragen gently kissed Olivia's forehead, promising to return as soon as possible and then left the room with the detective and psychiatrist, but not without taking a long look at the woman lying on the hospital bed.

Elliot and Cragen sat down in the uncomfortable seats that the waiting room had to offer. Huang had left to go help another patient and an awkward silence hung in the air as Cragen began paperwork telling the hospital his daughter's history.

"Seven years…"Cragen began but was then cut off by Elliot.

"Look, Cap. You don't have to explain." He said, although still completely confused as to what had just occurred.

"You'll have to find out sometime, Elliot. And I'm going to need your help to catch the bastard that did this to my baby." Cragen would have no regrets about killing this guy if he ever got his hands on him, Elliot quickly observed.

"Okay."

"It's been seven years since I last saw my little girl. She just turned twenty-two last month. No, she's not biologically mine, but she is mine in every other sense. Marge and I adopted Olivia when she was seven. She was the product of her mother's rape, and because of this, her mother could not find it in herself to love that girl. An alcoholic, her mother often beat her, thus forcing her to grow up too quickly."

"I first met her when I was still working vice. There was a 911 call for a 'domestic dispute.' My partner and I showed up, the mother was passed out on the couch while her boyfriend was raping her daughter." Cragen had to pause and wipe his eyes. Elliot's heart already broke for the woman he had just recently known to exist. "We got the guy off of Olivia, but it was too late, and it wasn't the first time either. As you can imagine we removed her from the home. Both adults were arrested and given prison sentences, but I knew Olivia was too troubled to go into the foster care system. They wouldn't have been able to give her the help that she deserved. One night I poured my soul out to Marge, and she suggested that we adopt Olivia. We did. It took years for her to completely open up to us, but she was, no she is, the most wonderful creature to come into my life besides my wife."

"Right after Olivia turned fifteen I got a promotion to Lieutenant and was switched to SVU. A month later, Marge frantically called me at work to tell me that Olivia had never arrived home from school. She had called the school and everyone we knew, but Olivia was no where to be found. I did everything in my power to try to find her, but we couldn't. There were no leads, no notes, nothing."

"Marge died a year and a half later, I'm sure it was of a broken heart. I tried using the bottle to console my grief. When that didn't work, I sobered up and put all of my energy into the job. I made Captain soon after that."

"Sir, I'm not trying to imply anything, but are you sure she was kidnapped?" Elliot tried to say this as gently as he could.

"Absolutely. Although Olivia had recovered from her childhood she was never completely healed. She couldn't stand to be around strangers, and was terribly shy. She only had one true friend Alexandra Cabot. Everyday Alex and Olivia would walk to and from school together, but Alex was sick that day. Alex was torn up about it. There's no way Olivia would have ran away." Cragen was firm in his statement. "The rest I don't know. The only ones who do are Olivia and the guy who did this."

"Olivia is done with testing. The doctor would like to speak with you for a minute to go over her situation more and then you can go see her," a short nurse with blonde hair informed them.

The pair quickly stood up and followed her.

End Chapter 2


End file.
